7 tips for speeding up your QuickBooks performance

By Mike Block

Here are ways you can speed up QuickBooks for your small home business.

Increase main memory to 128 MB minimum, preferably 256 MB for workstations and 512 MB or more for servers. The official QuickBooks minimum main memory is: 2001 - 64 MB; 2002 - 64 MB; 2003 - 96 MB; 2004 - 96 MB. It is NOT the optimal memory to speed up QuickBooks and does not consider how often you have other programs open while running it QuickBooks for your small home business. *** See Comment below.

Turn off the QuickBooks automatic updates. In Windows XP click Start, All programs, Startup and delete Axelbridge, Axelbridge1, QBAgent, QBDagent, QBDagent1, QBupdate, QBserver or QBupdate, depending on QuickBooks version. In QuickBooks enter File, Update QuickBooks, Options, Turn off Automatic Update. Why should QuickBooks check for updates each time your computer starts, it only updates about 10 times a year? This can really speed up QuickBooks, especially if you are low on memory or do not have open high-speed web access for your small home business.

Edit QuickBooks Preferences. In Accounting, turn off Use audit trail. In Desktop View, do not Show a Navigator and Don't save the desktop. In General, turn off Warn when editing and Warn when deleting. In Reminders, mark everything Don't remind me.

Check the QuickBooks file for errors and use our File Repair Procedures if needed. Archive or Condense QuickBooks files annually after reconciling all bank accounts and making sure your audit trail is off. Split Processing with QuickBooks Add-ons, which often record entries in separate databases and only enter occasional summary entries in QuickBooks. See our free accounting software and free QuickBooks downloads to speed up QuickBooks for your small home business.

Increase CPU speed to 2+ GH and drives to EIDE or better. New computers are about four times as fast as four year old computers, so you save time and money as you speed up QuickBooks and most other programs for your small home business. You also often need new computers to run the latest powerful time-saving programs.

Optimize computers by defragging (optimizing) hard drives and making sure you have more than 10 percent of hard drives free. Use programs like Ad-ware for spyware, ZoneAlarm for security, and Norton System Works for Windows cleanup and viruses. Delete old e-mail. Let a disk cleanup program safely delete old files, including those in your recycle bin (after you back up).

If you do not have a small home business then use a server and fast network cards to speed up QuickBooks. No one should work on networked computers with QuickBooks data. Windows can optimize computer for remote use, but this is less important than not having users use server computers. With a 60+m QuickBooks file you should consider QuickBooks Enterprise, especially with many active users or reports. With more than five networked computers, even if only a few use QuickBooks, you also should consider Microsoft Windows Terminal Server or Citrix.

About the author
Mike Block of BlockTax provides QuickBooks, QuickBooks Add-ons, QuickBooks Terminal Server, and related user support and writing. Contact Mike Block at mblock@blocktax.com.